Senior Advisor, Sycamore Partners
People & Perspectives
From one friend to another
Advice for colleagues adjusting to life in the midst of a global pandemic, from a team that’s been there.
When COVID-19 first appeared in the world, its force was initially felt throughout Asia. As a global company, this meant that a portion of our workforce was impacted before the rest of us were – although the repercussions of the pandemic would ultimately affect WBA colleagues in every area that we operate.
By the time our U.S. and U.K.-based teams based teams began hearing recommendations to shelter in place and practice social distancing, our Global Brands Asia team had been living under the threat of coronavirus for a few months: working from home, avoiding contact with friends and families, and having to find new ways to stay connected.
Knowing what their colleagues would be going through as they navigated their “new normal,” the Global Brands Asia team wrote a letter to their WBA teammates around the world – hoping to share their coping tips and help others see that there is light at the end of this tunnel.
We may be biased, but Hong Kong and Shanghai are truly spectacular parts of the world – when all this is over you should come and pay us a visit. Included in the long list of things that make these places so special is their community spirit and their resilience. You might remember that this is not the territories’ first experience in navigating a coronavirus; from 2002 and 2004, Hong Kong fought its way through severe acute respiratory syndrome, otherwise known as SARS.
To support government containment efforts and to protect ourselves, our families and our communities, those of us based Hong Kong and Shanghai have been working from home since the end of January. This wasn’t a phased approach – we didn’t leave the office one team at a time, but rather all started working from home in one fell swoop and have continued to do so ever since. Three weeks ago, we partially opened our offices, but access was limited to those team members who couldn’t do their job without having office access.
Having been in this position for over two months, we thought we would share with you how we managed the transition and what we learnt along the way. We hope it helps as you embark on a similar journey.
First things first – it might be reassuring to hear that our operations have all continued to run exactly as they would were we physically in the office. Some of our colleagues around the world didn’t even know we weren’t in the office at first, and were amazed when they found out. Anti-bribery training, learning & development, recruitment, month-end reporting…we’ve done everything as usual and on time, and we’ve maintained all our regular team meetings and huddles. Your working environment may change but nothing else has to. It’s about the quality of work, not the place you work.
Working from home may feel strange at first, but it becomes your “new norm” in no time. Embrace the change, recognize it’s for the greater good and get stuck in! The quicker you adapt, the sooner you’ll start to experience some of the benefits we have.
For example, our technology and the tools available to us are great – we have held multiple virtual meetings with over 200 people located across 3 countries and two-time zones, and we haven’t experienced a blip. We’ve found if you listen through headphones and if possible away from your laptop, you concentrate much more on virtual meeting content rather than being distracted by emails flying in. If you’re able too, some of us have found that dialing into a meeting whilst you are out for a walk also makes the discussion and your own thoughts more focused. This ultimately makes the meeting more productive.
The situation has also brought about a real sense of togetherness and care. We may not be working side by side in the office but we’ve learnt so much about each other. We all are taking the time to really listen when we ask each other how we’re feeling.
Some of our personal advice, to help ease your transition to this new way of working:
- Self-discipline and boundaries – just because you are working from home does not mean you are working all the time. Neither does it mean the opposite. Set yourself a working pattern or schedule. Ensure your stakeholders know your virtual work habits and how best to contact you – Skype calls, phone calls, emails – make your preferences known and respect the working pattern and preferences of others. Where you are able too, try and incorporate some movement into your day. The lack of exercise and movement can leave you feeling really tired. With events cancelled, social engagements postponed, and many leisure and hospitality venues closed, a lack of social contact can make you feel lonely and isolated. Use this time to work on the emotional bond between you and your team mates so that expressing such feelings becomes easier and you create an environment where it’s okay to let your guard down and say how you’re really feeling. If it is practical, clearly differentiate your home environment between a working space and a living space. Even small visible things can help. One of our teammates puts her laptop, cable, notebook etc. in a drawer when she’s finished work. This physical “packing away” replaced the “leaving the office” feeling, helped her draw a clear boundary between her home as a place of work and her home as – well, a home. Try not to let news of COVID-19 consume you. There are a lot of rumors and myths around that are not helpful and can contribute towards feelings of stress and anxiety. Hong Kong went through the panic buying phase too. We hear in the UK and US people are stockpiling pasta – over here people were stock piling rice. The queues for toilet roll looped around our supermarkets and down the street. But after a couple of weeks the panic buying stopped, and the supermarket shelves returned to normal – hang in there.
What we are focusing on:
We’re working as hard as we can to secure medical and hygiene supplies for our customers and our colleagues, and we’re faced with a lot of challenges whilst doing so. Manufacturers are yet to operate at full capacity; they themselves are facing restrictions on production and export, and the associated logistics - air, land and sea – need to be managed in an ever-changing world. We all have to learn to make quick (and smart) decisions. It’s too volatile out there to work in any other way.
And here is one more piece of advice – perhaps the most important reminder to share: we work for a global pharmacy-led, health and well-being enterprise, which means that we can be a part of the solution to the pandemic. We focus on this truth every single day, and it motivates us immeasurably.
Hang in there. We will all get through this, and we are here for you every step of the way.
Your friends,
The Global Brands Asia Team
